The London Tea Room

A postscript to my previous review: This tea is good cold brewed as well. I had only a rounded teaspoon left, so I put it in a quart jar of water and let it sit in the fridge overnight. Yum! Sadly though, now it’s all gone. One of these days I’ll have to visit my sis in Saint Louis and have a shopping spree at the London Tea Room. That was some good stuff, Maynard!

My big sis called and asked me what was up. As always, she’d been harping, I’d been writing and we both were drinking tea. Actually, I was poking through my cupboard deciding what to have next. She asked if I’d tried the samples she’d sent and recommended The Naughty Vicar. “You’ll like it,” she assured me.

Boy, does she know me. The minute the water hit this tea, I knew she was right. That fruity,
vanilla-y scent was just the thing after my morning of Chi obsession. I’d been sampling all sorts of chais with coconut milk and sweetener and this was just what I needed to cleanse my palate.

The Naughty Vicar reminded me a bit of Paris Morning (insert love sonnets here) but with a different sort of fruity twist. It was a little astringent but not excessively so, a touch tart but still quite good. Since I was feeling naughty, I added coconut milk and a bit of sweetening, which brought out the fruitiness a bit more. I like my fruit flavors a little more assertive, but over all it was a delightful change of pace. It was good, very good, and the name conjured up all manner of amusing ideas.

Thank you Harplady for this wonderful sample. I’m looking forward to indulging in more naughtiness soon.

Coconut Oolong- The London Tea Room

I couldn’t find a proper teaspoon so I probably used more of this than the standard measure. The dark little snaky pieces unfurled into lovely green leaves. Following the three minute brewing period, I strained them out and found myself studying the leaves with great interest. They actually looked very fresh and an experimental nibble confirmed this. They were like cooked green veggies I could much down with a bit of butter, salt, and pepper. I don’t often do this, but hey, those steepings looked and smelled so good, I actually did exactly that. They were a tad bitter but mostly delicious. Hopefully nutritious too.

After finishing my little mess of boiled tea greens, I turned to the tea itself. The scent from the cup was pleasant, perfum-y and coconutty. I didn’t have much experience with oolong but found it quite nice. Fragrant seems such a mundane word for it—I do a lot of flower cookery and rather enjoy a flowery scent in my mouth and it was a little like that. The coconut scent tops it beautifully, harmonizing with the rest as if it belongs there, as maybe in this case it does.

I liked it. A lovely tea I look forward to having again.

PS Since I liked this A LOT, when my husband came into the room, I urged him to sample it. “Kind of bland…” he commented and proceeded to brew up some mainstream variety and dump a ton of sugar into it. I guess there’s no accounting for taste.

Sipdown!
A nicely balanced cup.

Hey Steepsterites!
It’s been a long day. I had to go over to the University for my Harp Student’s end of the semester jury. If you’d like to hear the piece she played, “Clair de Lune sur l’etang du Parc”, by Marcel Tournier, here’s a youtube of someone doing it (not my student)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWvwWHCF11Y
I made a 16 oz go cup of this blend, which is actually pretty nice. There’s just enough Keemun in there to give it a sweet, earthy & slightly smokey leaning.

I had a cup of this with breakfast this morning. I’ve reviewed it several times, so there really isn’t much to say. Kind of an ‘even’ tasting blend, a little smokey, a little bright, mostly kind of in the middle flavorwise, if that makes sense.

I’m feeling groggy, crabby, & sleep deprived. I also woke up with a bitter taste in my mouth, & am having a spacey headachey morning. It’s allergies, & it pisses me off!
I drank a cup of this plain, while I was fixing my breakfast. It’s pleasantly bold & I’m really tasting the slight smokiness of the Keemun. I made a pot of it while I was drinking the cup, to have with breakfast, & added stevia & french vanilla coconut creamer, & it was very nice! I was on a creamer & stevia jag with black tea for awhile, & in fact it was really hard to break myself of it. Then for a long time I just drank all my teas black. Now I’m kind of enjoying both. The first cup is savory, the 2nd cup is dessert! Adding those things always brings out qualities in a tea that I might not notice otherwise.
And we all love variety, right?

Just another cup of breakfast tea. This is a nice earthy cup, & what I want to do is linger here on my laptop, drinking cup after cup after cup of a variety of teas, writing reviews, etc…
BUT, I have things to do today, starting with a hot bubble bath (Oh, the busy life of the self-employed, I’m sure I make somebody out there sick, LOL).

First cup of the day.
’nuff said

Breakfast: A baked sweet potato & chorizo

This tea is bold enough to stand up to a breakfast like that!
It is not loud or bright or acidic, like so many breakfast blends are.
The aroma is a balance of fruit & earth, with a hint of smoke.
The flavor is similar. I drank the first cup straight, & added a little stevia to the 2nd cup, & that’s nice too, bringing out a brown sugar taste & a butteriness in the throat.

Nothing fancy, no special steeping techniques, just a nice balanced cup of tea! Sometimes that’s all I need.

I’m enjoying a nice morning at home! I have students on & off throughout the day, so finally I get to hang out and sample teas!

This is a basic breakfast blend, nicely bold. I drank 2 cups.

Hey Steepsterites! I hope everyone is having an awesome Sunday!

I woke up around 9, drank my last cup of Yunnan Jig (adadio, I like their Yunnan Noir better) while Tony had a cup of his beloved Jubilee (London Tea Room, aka LTR). We went out to breakfast, where we both had a cup of Numi’s Breakfast blend (basically, it’s ok for a restaurant bagged tea…). Then we headed downtown to the LTR, where we each ordered a pot of tea. He had Lavender Earl Grey (which he bought 2 oz of, along with another 4 oz of Jubilee), and I had Keemun Mao Feng (sweet, malty, a little smokey). I got 2 oz of this LTR Blend, as I haven’t tried it yet, and I’m having a cup now.

Some breakfast blends have what I would call a ‘bright’ flavor, and an acidic quality. This one does not. It is a dark and bold cup, with a buttery mouth feel. I like dark and bold much more than I like acidity and brightness. I’ll add it to my breakfast rotation.

Sipdown!
I drank this plain, & it’s not a very appealing looking tea dry, but actually, it was nice. (sorry for the lame reviews…lol)

My student, Elaine, gave me a sample of this a few weeks ago when she came for her lesson.

Sage, lemon thyme, Mint, a little Bergamot, not really my cup of tea plain. I grow fresh herbs and use them regularly in cooking, but I’m not a real big fan of them in teas usually, at least not the ones I consider culinary. I do make tisanes from lemon verbena, lemon balm, chamomile, and mint, among others, when I’m in the mood.

Having said all that, with a little stevia, the sweetness brings forward the more pleasant tastes of gentle bergamot and the lightly lemony thyme. It’s not bad, but still not something I’d reach for. I’m only drinking it to use it up, and because I want to drop the caffeine for the rest of the evening.

If this review seems redundant, that’s because I already posted it once, but I screwed up & posted it as Jubilee. Oops!

I’m at the London Tea Room, undercover, so to speak. I came to pick up some more Jubilee for Tony, and to enjoy a pot of tea for myself. Today I selected the Ancient Yunnan. My love for black teas is deep, & Yunnans are among my favorites.

This is a nice, bold cup of Malty goodness with a chocolately essence & a peppery finish. Everything a Yunnan is meant to be, & although it is perhaps not as intriguing as some of the yunnans I’ve drank of late, it is very satisfying on this drizzly fall morning.
As I often do, I drank the first cup straight & added a little stevia to the rest. I day like today tends to bring out my desire for a sweet taste, & the stevia really brings forward the notes of caramel & chocolate. Yum!

Still on location at the London Tea Room. I come to this place often enough that my waitress, Audrey, gave me a big hug upon my arrival! We talked on & off while I was enjoying the first pot of tea, & I decided to stick around for lunch. I ordered the Chicken Waldorf Salad: chicken, golden raisins, walnuts, apples, pears, red onion & curried mayo on a bed of mixed salad greens, with a walnut vinaigrette dressing on the side. I’ve had it before, & it’s delicious.

For a tea, I’m having the Ancient Yellow Buds. This is my first yellow tea, & I’ve been thinking of trying it for awhile. The smell & appearance of the tea leaves is similar to a silver needle, a little nutty & bright. It brews into a beautiful pale yellow liquor, leaning towards an almost apricot tinge. They served it in a 12 oz glass teapot (made by rishi, I have one, & I love it. It looks like a miniature koolaid pitcher), & a small white porcelain cup, which really shows off the color of the tea. LTR doesn’t have photos of their teas on their website, so knowing I’d be the first to list this tea, I snapped a pic off with my iPhone so you could see the lovely color.

The flavor? Very mellow, light like a silver needle, but a little richer & sweeter. Slightly fruity, almost a little buttery, & although it doesn’t taste like corn, it has a savoriness that almost reminds me of cornbread stuffing. I know, that’s crazy!

I lost interest in my salad & had them pack up the rest of it to go.

I dont tend towards a lot of flavored teas, but this one is tastefully & gently done, & will be just right for the ride to work. Flavors of chocolate croissant with hints of vanilla & marmalade. Morning indulgence :)

I took up knitting about a month ago, & last night I finished making my first pair of socks!!
https://www.facebook.com/terri.langerak

This is a lovely tea, especially lightly sweetened. It’s bold enough to be satisfying, with a touch of vanilla, chocolate, & orange. I drank it while Tony & I were watching Winter’s Tale.

I enjoyed a cup of this earlier in the day, lightly sweetened.

I had a fun rehearsal with my flute playing friend. I have a couple of flute players that I do gigs with from time to time. One is only good for classical music, but she is very very good at it. In fact, we have a wedding coming up next month together. Another is more flexible, being able to play pop tunes, etc. There have been several other flautists over the years, including a gal I went to college with, & also including my ex-husband, who was an accomplished musician on a variety of instruments.

So my new flute player? We’re the same age (55), we know all the same people around town, have played with a lot of the same musicians (including junky Wayne, the percussionist), & yet we never met. We had heard of each other, but just never turned up in the same place. That changed about a month ago, & now we’re meeting up every 2 weeks to work on some stuff. She can play classical, rock, & Jazz…I mean she can really wail! She also play cello & guitar. I don’t know if we’ll get a lot of gigs, but I’m sure we’ll be playing around town at least, once we get a couple of jazz sets together. Most importantly, I want to have fun. :)

So I made a big pot of this tea, & it was perfect for the afternoon.

I added some of this back into my cupboard yesterday while I was at the London Tea Room. It’s a pleasant blend of black tea, orange, chocolate, & a croissant like taste to the base. A nice change of pace, lightly flavored.

One more tea I’m almost out of. Although it is a decent breakfast tea, & packs a fair punch, it’s not necessarily a favorite, so I don’t mind not tasting much. The stevia I added is helping to bring forward a hint of Vanilla & orange, & from previous experience I seem to recall a buttery croissant taste. I have enough left for one more cup, which I’ll drink in a week or 2, as I just realized I never reviewed this one, & I do at least owe it a fair review!

Tony & I got out & cleaned all the snow off our cars this afternoon, & I drove home, slipping & sliding all the way. I’m actually really good at driving on slick stuff, but was still glad to get home, where I’ve been happily sipping teas all afternoon.

It’s been awhile since I drank this one, so the boys & I made a nice big teapot full, thinking we would polish it off, but it turns out there is still enough to have it one more time. Into the sipdown box the last bit goes.

This is a black tea with the rich tartness of black currant & the creaminess of vanilla. I added a touch of sweet to my cup as well, & I had forgotten how tasty this one is!

This was the other bubble bath tea, & it was so nice. Richly flavored with black currants & vanilla, I like to add a little stevia. Very intoxicating & relaxing brew to soak in the tub with. Now it’s time to load up to go play a wedding, then I have the weekend off!